PRACTICAL FEEDING OF POULTRY 



the roasting stage. The later hatched chickens may often 

 be kept and caponized where one has good range condi- 

 tions for raising capons. The price paid for chickens is 

 usually much higher in the early summer than in the 

 fall, the lowest point usually coming about October or 

 November. The following shows the average monthly 

 price for chickens for one year in the New York market 

 beginning with January, 1919: 27.5 cents per pound; 

 29.4 ,'29.5; 87.0; (broilers) 60. 1 ; 50.3; 42.9; 36.4; 31.4; 

 26.1; 25. 3; 27. 7. 



Hens are usually marketed to best advantage at the 

 end of their second laying season although the best Leg- 

 horn hens in the flock may often be kept to advantage 

 until the end of their third laying period. Many of the 

 hens can be marketed to advantage at the end of their 

 first laying season, the culls and poor producers being 

 removed at that time. As a rule the hens which moult 

 earliest in the summer are the poorest producers and a 

 considerable percentage of them can be sold at the end of 

 their first laying year. 



The hens of the general purpose breeds rarely pro- 

 duce profitably after their second laying season and a 

 larger proportion of them can be marketed to advantage 

 at the end of their first laying season than with Leg^ 

 horns. Some farmers sell their hens during the latter 

 part of the winter or the very early part of spring when 

 the prices for fowls are at the highest point but hens 

 which have been kept until that time should be kept 

 through their laying season as they will produce suffi- 



175 



